Richard Barlow, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said that sustainable development is a strategic priority for the UK Government, stressing support for the GCP.

Antonio Nobre, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Brazil, depicted the Amazon as a biotic regulator and described its biological and chemical functions and the relationship between biosphere and atmosphere in regulating water, sequestering carbon and providing other ecosystem services for humanity. Nobre detailed how the Amazon’s regulation of the climate is dependant upon its “functional” biodiversity. He said the biodiversity-climate connection is a “brave new world”, and that the rainforest functions as an “open liver”, cleaning the air. Nobre added that rainfall is not the only regulating function of the rainforest, it can also drag inland moisture from the surrounding ocean, keep atmosphere clean from excess dust that could upset the cloud and rain formation dynamics, and return precipitated water into the atmosphere.

Andrew Mitchell, GCP, introduced the proposed Whole Forest Observatory (WFO) Network, expected to run from 2007/8 to 2012, which will monitor how forest canopies interact with the atmosphere, affecting climate change, and how “biodiversity meets the atmosphere.” Mitchell recalled the proposal made by Papua New Guinea at the UNFCCC Kyoto COP/MOP-1, suggesting that countries should be compensated for reducing deforestation rates, emphasizing that the GCP is designed to demonstrate how “biosphere-atmosphere hotspots,” a new concept he proposes, provide ecosystem services of high economic value. He stressed that the WFO is essentially about “Life, Atmosphere and People,” indicating the crisis of values between humanity and biodiversity and our responsibility to come up with creative mechanisms to stop biodiversity loss. He indicated that Brazil, Malaysia, India, Ghana, Madagascar and China are partner countries for the WFO, with the UK Government fostering these partnerships.

Hylton Philipson, GCP, stressed that the only way to stop deforestation is to put a cash value on ecosystem services provided by tropical forests, transferring benefits back to local governments and communities. He suggested some alternatives to fund conservation: development of carbon markets to avoid deforestation and land conversion into crops and pastures; involvement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, whose income has doubled in the past two years, and insurance companies, who have lost billions with from the impact of natural disasters due to climate change; air travel; and soya producers, who need rainfall for their plantations.

Nigel Sizer, UNEP/GEF, indicated that the GCP project is a high priority for the GEF portfolio.

Anne Angwengy, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Kenya, gave an overview of the workshop, highlighting various bioprospecting examples such as the commercialization of Devil’s claw, used as an anti-inflammatory agent which has enabled communities in Botswana to improve their living standards despite the absence of an ABS agreement. She said in Ethiopia, an ABS agreement regarding teff, a cereal crop, has been concluded between the Ethiopian Institute for Biological Conservation and a Dutch commercial breeder. She added that the participants at the workshop called for clear-cut definitions and the avoidance of duplication of regional capacity building efforts in addition to the need for harmonized ABS regulations.

Kabir Bavikatte, Protimos, elaborated on the outcome of the needs-based questionnaire that was distributed to participants at the recent Ad hoc Open-Ended Working Group on ABS in Grenada. Explaining that 17 out of 52 African countries participated in the questionnaire and called for, inter alia, the development of policies and national legislation on intellectual property rights (IPRs), monitoring of ABS cases and genetic resource inventories.

In the ensuing discussion one participant noted that Devil’s claw had been commercialized in the 1950’s, and raised the issue of retrospective ABS. Another observed that in Africa lack of community cohesion has allowed inappropriate access without prior informed consent based on mutually agreed terms.

Highlighting the Micronesia Challenge as a key strategic partnership for dealing with developmental and conservation challenges faced by islands states, H.E. Redley Killion, Vice President of the Federated States of Micronesia, indicated that such initiatives and the work programme on island biodiversity are mutually reinforcing.

Marina Silva, Minister of the Environment, Brazil, welcomed the opportunity to exchange experiences with the island states. She underscored the fragility of islands, saying that large countries like Brazil are also fragile, as are the multilateral environmental agreements.

Ann David-Antoine, Minister of the Environment, Grenada, announced the commitment by Grenada to conserve at least 25% of all near shore marine resources and at least 25% of all terrestrial resources by 2020.

Saying that nationalism can be good, Chris Carter, Conservation Minister of New Zealand, said New Zealand's success in conservation is based on the fact that they have tapped into the population, creating an identity founded in the uniqueness of the land, creating ownership.

Martin Puta Tofinga, Minister of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development, Kiribati, declared the Phoenix Islands as a marine protected area, and said that they are also being considered for World Heritage Site Status.

Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary, emphasized the importance of the proposed work programme on island biodiversity to address vulnerability and degradation of islands ecosystems.